Notes and news

Citation

Pollitt, D. (2016), "Notes and news", Industrial and Commercial Training, Vol. 48 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/ICT-01-2016-0001

Notes and news

Article Type: Notes and news From: Industrial and Commercial Training, Volume 48, Issue 3.

United Biscuits employees soak up e-learning

A global manufacturer of biscuits, cakes and snacks is supporting culture change in the organization with new e-learning.

United Biscuits, which owns brands such as McVitie's and Jaffa Cakes, has launched two online learning modules for new and existing employees. The modules deal with the key behaviors helping to drive success in the business.

E-learning provider Sponge UK created the bespoke modules using responsive technology so United Biscuits staff can gain access to the training on any device.

The e-learning outlines PACE (performance, ambition, competitiveness and energy) behaviors at United Biscuits and the role they play in helping the company to achieve its goals.

Employees are introduced to PACE through the eyes of three illustrated characters, based on real employees.

Louise Pasterfield, Sponge UK managing director, said: "Culture is vital to the success of modern organizations but it can be a difficult thing to teach. Providing authentic examples and experiences is important and the illustrated characters do this in an engaging way. Each character has a different perspective and experience so learners get to see how Pace works across a wide range of situations."

"We have also created a short video animation which sets the scene and helps to introduce new employees – and remind existing ones – about the context of Pace in the company."

Lisa McCandless, United Biscuits head of learning and development, said: "Our challenge was simple – to create something that helps new starters and current employees to understand and ‘get' what the culture we describe as Pace actually means at United Biscuits". However, we soon discovered the solution was not that simple.

"Working with Sponge was important in helping us to create something we are really proud of." By using storytelling with real people in United Biscuits, combined with their avatar characters, which genuinely look like them, we were able to bring PACE to life.

"We are really impressed by the feedback we have had from our employees, those involved and even our chief executive on these two new modules."

The e-learning has been created using Adapt, a multi-device technology that enables a single version to run on any size of device.

More than 4,500 United Biscuits employees in the UK will undertake the training. The e-learning will be introduced to a further 9,000 staff globally soon.

Workers also have access to a supporting workbook, Pace in my Pocket, which will be available in print or as an app to act as a quick reference guide.

Intuition gets faster and more flexible

Knowledge-management specialist Intuition is using a new learning content management system (LCMS) to maintain and update its library of online materials.

In the first 18 months after implementing the LCMS, Intuition's team of subject-matter experts and instructional designers – whose output serves more than two million users globally – built some 1,400 separate learning objects.

"Using the LCMS has made our team more productive," said Intuition's head of advisory services, Brian O'Malley. "In 1999, it took us one day to build one screen of learning content. By 2010 – before implementing the LCMS – we were able to build between 15 and 25 screens of learning content a day."

"Since adopting the LCMS and its related tools it takes our team just five hours to build 50 screens of all-new content from storyboard. This content is output for a broad range of personal computers, plus tablet and smart-phone devices. It is clear, then, that the efficiency gains are compelling."

The system allows for rapid content development through collaboration between subject-matter experts and courseware designers, regardless of their location or specialization. Furthermore, the LCMS makes reusing "chunks" of content easier.

"Our technological innovations enable enterprises to improve their performance and cut their business costs significantly," said Federico Dondero, international-sales manager of eXact Learning Solutions, which supplied the LCMS. "These empowered organizations can produce and manage standard, interoperable and reusable learning content that can be delivered on various platforms and output peripherals, such as via the web or by means of mobile devices."

Morses credits systems provider

A UK home-credit provider has introduced new systems to ensure that its workforce complies with the latest legal requirements.

Morses Club has almost 100 local branches with around 600 employees and 2,500 agents across the UK following its merger with Shopacheck last year.

Shopacheck had been managing regulatory training using the NetDimensions learning-management system for eight years. Morses Club decided to use the system to manage regulatory training across the whole of the merged organization. This helps the company to demonstrate to the Financial Conduct Authority that all employees and agents are trained and regularly being assessed to prove their competency.

"Morses Club has a workforce spread all over the country and needs the flexibility to access training from any personal computer, tablet or telephone. Now employees and agents are able to take their training on tablet devices or smart-phones from anywhere in the country at any time of the day," explained Steve Wright, the company's head of learning and development. "The software upgrades are very quick and easy and we get regular product updates."

The firm has added the NetDimensions talent suite to manage performance reviews.

Zurich Insurance puts the accent on fun

Zurich Insurance is using informal learning in an innovative, fun manner to increase awareness and knowledge about important topics among its international workforce.

The company also wanted to implement an informal training strategy that reflected the current learning values of employees in the organization. The learning needed to be bite-size, with a fun and engaging element.

Zurich used the Tata Interactive Systems QuizBiz app framework to develop the Zurich QuizWiz app that builds on existing trends like playing social games to deliver informal learning in an innovative manner.

QuizWiz enables any organization to set up a social game for its users through an app. Innovative use of peer-to-peer challenges and leader-boards keeps people engaged while the performance metrics gathered provide insights into knowledge among the target audience.

"This way of learning is very suitable for companies targeting product training, implementing change processes, launching a corporate initiative, raising awareness, increasing knowledge and creating excitement," said Rati Menon, managing director of Tata Interactive Systems.

The system won silver at the E-Learning Awards.

PricewaterhouseCooper (PwC) staff learn how to be smart and secure

Training on information security, given to more than 17,000 PwC UK partners and staff, has won gold at the E-Learning Awards.

The company, along with learning and performance agency Brightwave, won the best use of e-learning to ensure compliance with external regulations or internal policies category for the Be Smart, Be Secure program.

The solution centered on an interactive video simulation that featured a week in the lives of three fictional PwC employees. Using technology to create a moment of self-realization, the system asks the learner to click on hot-spots, identifying high-risk security breaches as they happen.

The solution fought off competition from nine other shortlisted projects to scoop the top award in what was one of the most highly entered categories. The judges praised the project for its technologically innovative and engaging approach.

Tom Riddell-Webster, PwC head of information protection, said: "Managing information risk is an ongoing strategic priority for PwC. The Be Smart, Be Secure e-learning resonated with our people and ensured they were aware of the information risks that surround them every day, by using scenarios they encounter as part of their working and personal lives."

"Feedback has been very positive and it is clear that the program has inspired our people to focus on correct behaviors, thereby helping to provide significant defences against information-security threats."

Channel 4 tunes into diversity

A system of using e-learning and internal communications to embed a culture of practising diversity was a double award winner at the annual E-Learning Awards.

Channel 4 and communication-and-learning company Aceton won two silvers for best e-learning project and for excellence in the production of learning content.

Acteon consultant James Woodman commented: "Diversity is a complex and sensitive subject and Born Different was created to reaffirm Channel 4's leadership in this area both on and off-screen. The title of the course links to the channel's reputation of taking risks and pushing boundaries."

The project has attracted attention from external organizations responsible for promoting diversity. The campaign group Stonewall has praised the program and is recommending the approach to other organizations.

"Channel 4's Born Different is an excellent example of a creative way to engage employees on diversity and inclusion topics," said Sarah Foster, a major-partnerships manager at Stonewall. "Channel 4 has taken a bold step of publicizing targets for staff diversity, which makes it one of a very small group of pioneering employers. The e-learning it has designed is both visually engaging and hard-hitting, and is a great example of an organization using its creativity as well as its own unique tone of voice to create engaging resources that resonate with staff."

"People can get diversity fatigue," said Baroness Oona King, diversity executive at Channel 4. "By capturing the spirit and values of Channel 4, Born Different engaged hearts and minds. It was a call to action and Channel 4 people acted. That matters, because when we get diversity right we unlock talent, which makes us better at everything we do."

NHS leadership programs in the rudest of health

One of the largest and most comprehensive leadership-development programs undertaken by the National Health Service has won two more awards.

The virtual campus for the NHS leadership academy won silver for best leadership program at the Training Journal Awards. It also won gold for excellence in the production of learning content (public sector) at the E-Learning Age Awards.

The virtual campus uses a blend of multi-device learning, video-based scenarios, performance support, assessments and more, alongside residentials and face-to-face training, to support leaders at various levels of the NHS.

The virtual campus, created by a KPMG-led consortium including learning-technologies company Leo, Manchester Business School, the University of Birmingham, Harvard, National Voices, Cumberlege Eden & Partners, Unspun and other partners, delivers the Elizabeth Garrett Anderson and the Nye Bevan programs to around 10,000 NHS leaders over three years, helping to improve NHS leadership for better patient care. Participants of the Elizabeth Garrett Anderson program graduate with a master's degree in health-care leadership while participants in each Nye Bevan cohort receive an NHS Academy Award in executive health-care leadership.

Leo's chief strategy officer, Piers Lea, said: "These awards are significant for us because they recognize the difference these programs make to leadership in the NHS. They are a wonderful accolade for our team, the wider KPMG consortium, and for the NHS leadership academy."

Sports retailer gets new employees off to a flying start

An international sports retailer is extending its online induction program with two new e-learning modules.

Sports Direct was among the first in the UK to invest in a digital on-boarding program to provide new employees with flexible and user-friendly training.

E-learning company Sponge UK designed and developed the new modules, having worked with Sports Direct since 2013 on its online induction program.

The courses are built using Adapt, an e-learning framework, so that employees can gain access to the training on any type of device, including smart-phones and tablets.

Justin Kirkham, staff development and training manager at Sports Direct, said: "The induction training we provide to our new employees is always focussed on helping with adjustment to their new job and helping them to become familiar with their new work environment.

"Innovation is at the heart of SportsDirect.com and the development of our e-learning platform shares the same ethos."

The latest e-learning courses help new starters to understand what happens in-store daily, their role in merchandising stock and helping customers to find the best products.

Sponge UK's managing director, Louise Pasterfield, said: "Adapt allows a single course to adjust intelligently to different-size screens, providing learners with maximum choice and flexibility on how and when they do their learning."

The online induction courses have been delivered to around 25,000 employees, across the 19 countries Sports Direct operates in.

Air-conditioning firm uses the cloud

DencoHappel, a company dealing in air-treatment and conditioning systems, filtration equipment and process-air cooling, has selected a new learning and development platform to support the organization's vision for training, engaging and developing the workforce.

"We were looking for a learning and development platform that would ensure that our people would receive the best training and development and be fully enabled to meet their potential," said Hans-Joachim Heinze, of the company's training department.

The Saba platform selected enables DencoHappel to develop and deliver structured and targeted training and drive employee development and engagement through collaborative social tools and learning mobility. It incorporates predictive analytics and self-learning capabilities to offer program administrators a data-driven approach to program optimization, compliance and reporting.

"Customers like DencoHappel understand the importance of connecting their learning programs to broader employee performance, development and retention goals," said Paige Newcombe, Saba's chief customer officer. "We are looking forward to supporting DencoHappel in its mission to engage and develop employees with Saba Cloud."

With headquarters in Herne, Germany, DencoHappel has manufacturing facilities in Germany, the UK, the Czech Republic, Turkey, China and India as well as sales organizations and distributors in more than 50 countries. The company has more than 1,700 employees and generates sales of around €300 million.

Macdonald nurtures talent of future

Macdonald Hotels & Resorts is offering some 400 traineeships through work-experience placements in 17 of its 48 hotels throughout the UK.

Unemployed 16-24-year-olds can apply for the 16-week Future Talent program, where they can experience first-hand such aspects of the hospitality industry as food and beverage, conference and front-of-house.

After four weeks, trainees can focus on their preferred areas in the hotel, mentored by senior managers. They also spend two days a week with Total People, which delivers theory-based lessons.

At the end of four months, successful participants are placed in a vacancy or apprenticeship program at the hotel.

Kellie Rixon, brand director at Macdonald Hotels & Resorts, said: "Where university does not appeal to school leavers, or graduates are looking for a change of career, Macdonald Hotels & Resorts is offering young people a fully rounded, high quality, introduction to a career in the hospitality industry.

"As a leading name in the sector, we are committed to providing real opportunities for people to enter employment. The training is rigorous, but participants will have access to some of the best in the business, putting them on a genuine path to success."

Arora Hotels offers up to 20 graduate placements

Arora Hotels is offering up to 20 opportunities for graduates on its development program this year.

Graduates can experience on-the-job training in finance, human resources, sales and accounting in a 24-month structured program. Successful candidates will be given a personal-development plan and allocated a senior manager as a mentor from within the Arora Hotels business to provide one-to-one support.

Anne Davey, human-resources director, commented: "Our graduate-development program represents an opportunity for driven, passionate and ambitious candidates to take real ownership of their career path and develop within a multi-branded hotel company that can expose them to as many as six of the world's leading hotel brands under one umbrella.

"Our senior managers and management team are experts in their field and our 20 graduates will have the opportunity to learn from the very best in the industry while enjoying a great working environment, the freedom to make their mark on their role and the prospect of fast-tracking their career."

Vincent Madden, director of hotel operations at Arora Hotels, said: "This is a great opportunity for aspiring graduates to undertake real-life work experience at one of the UK's fastest-growing independent hotel companies."

A division of the Arora Group, Arora Hotels specializes in operating independent and multiple global hotel brands under franchise agreements with such hotel groups as Accor, InterContinental and Marriott International.

Cleaning firm shines through training

London cleaning firm JPC has embarked on a schedule of apprenticeships, ambassador programs and further training.

The company has instilled a high level of employee engagement – through English classes and other skill programs – to ensure that it not only retains the best staff but also encourages them to develop in their roles.

Chiswick Park, a 33-acre site in west London which is used by 8,000 people every day, is the biggest contract on JPC's books. There are 74 members of staff on the cleaning side alone. Engineers and security staff take the total to more than 120.

Contracts manager Sandrino Vieira said: "There are free English courses on site and other courses to develop people's skills, from how to read body language to building confidence and improving customer service. Everyone is a name, not a number."

Founded by managing director John Conroy in 1987, JPC employs more than 280 people and runs commercial-cleaning contracts across London and South-East England.

Operations director John Conroy Jr said: "Our people matter to us and by investing in them we can guarantee incredible performance for our clients."

They include Swarovski, Singapore Airlines, CBS News, Otis and Orange.

System is a game-changer

A video-games retailer won gold at the E-Learning Awards for the impact on the organization of a new learning-management system.

Game Digital won the award for its work with learning-technologies company Growth Engineering. The Game learning zone contains interactive content and social and gamification features to keep learners engaged.

The learning zone has improved Game's sales. Learners have also shown high levels of engagement with the platform and its social features, using it to communicate and share with colleagues nationally.

Juliette Denny, Growth Engineering managing director, said: "The people at Game have been a joy to work with. We are all on the same wavelength so we are building a partnership that is going to keep delivering results like this for years to come."

Mark Penton, of CloserStill, which sponsored the awards, said: "It was the toughest competition to date and congratulations are in order to all of the winners and everyone that was shortlisted."